SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 17, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Magma® Design Automation Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), a provider of chip design software, announced today that SuVolta, Inc., a developer of scalable low-power CMOS technologies in Los Gatos, Calif., has expanded its business relationship with Magma by entering into a licensing agreement to use the FineSim™ SPICE multi-CPU circuit simulator.

SuVolta's PowerShrink™ low-power platform reduces the power consumed by integrated circuits (ICs) by 50 percent or more while maintaining the same performance levels by minimizing the electrical variation of the millions of transistors on a chip. Using FineSim SPICE, SuVolta reduced simulation runtime, enabling the design team to increase test coverage by 4X without sacrificing accuracy.

"Our technology is used by advanced semiconductor companies that require the highest level of accuracy in verification of test chip data," said Robert Rogenmoser, Ph.D., SuVolta's senior vice president of Product Development and Engineering. "Magma's FineSim SPICE provides SuVolta with runtime improvements to ensure our designs are of the highest quality."

"SuVolta has emerged with game-changing technology that significantly reduces power consumption," said Anirudh Devgan, general manager of Magma's Custom Design Business Unit. "Their innovative approach is enhanced by the fast and accurate simulation of FineSim SPICE."

FineSim SPICE: Fast and Accurate Simulation

FineSim SPICE is a SPICE-level simulation analysis tool that incorporates transistor-level simulation analysis capabilities for mixed-signal and analog designs. FineSim SPICE is a full SPICE simulation engine with distributed processing that enables design teams to simulate large-scale mixed-signal system chips at the transistor level. By providing increased speed and capacity while maintaining full SPICE accuracy, FineSim SPICE enables designers to simulate advanced circuits — such as PLLs, ADCs (analog-to-digital converters), DACs (digital-to-analog converters) and gigahertz SERDES (SERializer/DESerializer) — they would not have attempted to test using slower traditional SPICE simulators.

About SuVolta, Inc.

SuVolta, Inc. develops and licenses scalable semiconductor technologies that enable a significant reduction in IC power consumption while maintaining performance. Based in Silicon Valley, the team includes world-class engineers and scientists with a long history of technology development and innovation to advance the semiconductor industry. The company is backed by leading venture capital firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), August Capital, NEA, Bright Capital, Northgate Capital and DAG Ventures. For more information, visit
www.suvolta.com.